Reperforator



Dec. 27, 1949 J. A. SPENCER ET AL Original Filed Feb. 15, 1947' REPERFORATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet l fi/vis A. SPENCER 77/0/01: .1 Mayo/y ZEW/J A. 77/0/74:

. ATTORNEY;

Dec. 27, 1949 J. A. SPENCER ET AL 2,492,504

REPERFORATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 e M Z Y /fl 4 a; ii 6 M WW 0 i :5 z u f r@ Av M a} v 6 AM MJ Q AA A O AAV F Q Av AA Co G A AA A o A M m) c AA i o A A rd bad OODOOOOOOOOOOOQQQ} (2)50 o o o o 0 o o o o o o o o o Patented Dec. 27, 1949 REPERFORATOR James A. Spencer, Teaneck, N. J Thomas J. Metson, Hollis, N. Y., and Lewisv A. Thomas, Los

Angeles, Calif., assig of America,

Original application Febr 728,850. Divided and t 24, 1949, Serial No. 72,522

8 Claims. (01. 178-70) This invention relates to telegraph apparatus and mechanisms and more particularly to an improved method of recording received telegraph code impulses on a perforated tape.

This application is a division of the copending application Serial No. 728,850, filed February 15, 1947, for Reperforator, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application.

In modern telegraph practice it is frequently advantageously to store received code signals in a perforated paper tape inorder that re-transmission may be accomplished at a later time. Devices of this kind are referred to as reperforators. This reperforator is designed primarily for reception of Morse signals transmitted approximately synchronously, but it will also reproduce accurately non-synchronous signals transmitted at a rate lower than the regular signalling speed, such as when breaks are inserted by hand in an automatic transmission sequence.

In'the present practice perforators of this type require a complicated system of cams operated by a motor for differentiating between dots and dashes. The Creed reperforator described in Harrisons Printing Telegraph Systems, page 208, is-an example of this type of reperforator.

The perforator provided by this invention does not require such cams or motor since it is required to recognize or perforate only the start and end of a marking signal. The perforator punches feed holes as well' as code holes. quires no specially prepared tape, but will operate with a standard transmitting tape.

It is an object of this invention to provide a reperforator which will perforate a tape directly from received signals having mark and space elements.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a reperforator of the type described in which the mechanical parts have been reduced to a minimum.

Briefly, in accordance with the invention, the incoming signals are utilized to produce negative and positive pulses during the transitions from mark to space and space to mark, respectively. A local source of oscillations synchronized with the incoming signals is utilized to actuate the perforator and the pulses produced during the transition periods are utilized to actuate the proper mark or space punch of the perforator.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Accordingly, it re-,

nors to Radio Corporation a corporation of Delaware nary 15, 1947,, Serial No. his application January Fig. 1 represents schematically a preferred embodiment of the invention for producing the controlled potentials for actuating the perforator.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of one form of perforator for. use with the chosen embodiment of the invention, and

Fig. 3 represents the time occurrence of the actuating pulses and the form of the tape produced therefrom.

Referring to Fig. 1, means have been provided so that the devicewill operate from an electrical or electronic source of keyed signals. Thus when a keyed-tone signal is being received, a tone signal converter, not shown, is used and its output is fed to the SIG terminal and a switch, [4, is thrown to the SIG position. When an external polar relay is provided, the switch, I4, is thrown to the EXT relay position.

A first polar relay, 23, together with its associated components, resistors, 24, 25, and Z6, and capacitors, 29, form an oscillating circuit known as the Gulstad relay. This is a circuit old in the art whose frequency of oscillation can be controlled, up to the speed capacity of the relay itself, by varying the values of the resistors, 26 and the capacitors, 29. The coilof a second polar relay, 27, is inserted in series with the oscillating circuit so that this relay will oscillate in synchronism with the first polar relay, 23, and, as will appear, certain further functions can be performed without afiecting the oscillating circuit.

Whenever the tongue of the second polar relay, 21, is held to the right-hand terminal, a capacitor, 3| will charge to approximately full positive value through a resistor, 28. When the tongue of the relay, 21, swings to the left, the energy stored in the capacitor, 3|, is discharged through the coil of a solenoid actuating relay, 3,.

closing this relay, 3, momentarily. Thus, the solenoid actuating relay, 3, is closed once for every oscillation of the first polar relay, 23.

The signals applied to the SIG terminal are fed through an electronic discharge I device, l2, the

output of which is utilized to control a third polar relay, l3. This third polar relay, I3, is phased so that for every marking signal the tongue of this relay, [3, will be connected to the positive voltage through a resistor, l5, and for every spacing. signal the tongue will be connected to the negative voltage through a resistor, l6.

Whenever the tongue of the third polar relay, I3, is positive, a conductive path is formed through the resistor, IS, the capacitor, I1, the rectifier, l8,

and the coil of a mark relay, 1, to ground. The

capacitor, l1, rapidly becomes charged so that the current through the mark relay, l, is merely an impulse tending to close the relay, I, momentarily at the beginning of every marking signal. It will be seen that the rectifier, 18, consists of a pair of rectifying paths oppositely connected to the capacitor,- l1. Thus whenever the tongue of the third polar relay, l3, becomes negative, a conductive path is formed through the resistor, IS, the capacitor, H, the rectifier, l8, and a space relay, 2, to ground. The capacitor, I], will thus be rapidly discharged and charged in the opposite sense causing an impulse tending to close the space relay, 2, momentarily at the end of every mark signal.

When the tongue of the third polar relay, I3, is positive, a parallel path is set up through a resistor, l5, a capacitor, l9, a rectifier, 20, and a coil 22 of the first polar relay, 23, to ground. This rectifier, 20, is so connected that at the beginning of every marking signal the pulses produced across its associated capacitor, ill, will be sent through the coil, 22, of the first polar relay. The coil, 22, is magnetically coupled to the first polar relay, 23, by a slight amount. Since this relay,- 23, normally adjusted to have a speed of oscillation slightly less than the band frequency of oscillation, the closure of the third relay, 3, will occur simultaneously or slightly after the closure of the mark relay, l. The reason for this action will be seen presently.

A switch, 30, is arranged so that the oscillating frequency of the first polar relay, 23, can be set to correspond with the dot repetition rate of the incoming signal, with no correction applied, and then, with the application of correction, the frequency of oscillation is automatically reduced a slight amount, this intentional difierence being taken care of by the correction. This feature allows for a certain amount of variation in the speed of the incoming signal due to the use of non-synchronous motors in transmission.

The mechanical action of the r'e'perfor'ator will be described in connection with Fig. 2". The relays, l, 2 and 3, have contacts which are in effect parallel switches on the operating circuit of the solenoid or punch magnet, 9. This, the solenoid, e, is energized with the closure of any of the relays, l, 2 or 3. Movementof the solenoid, 9, swings the punch block, [I], forward against the end of the punch pins which are driven through the tape, 32. The center hole pins, 8, are arranged to be operated with every operation of the solenoid, 9. The top or mark hole pin, 3, is operated whenever the vane, 4,- is interposed between the block, It, and the end of the mark pin, 6. This vane, 4, is actuated by a mechanical linkage with the armature of the mark relay, l. Thus, the mark pin, 6, will be operated whenever the mark relay, 1, is energized. In order that the punch block, i0, not operate before the vane, 4, is selected, the solenoid operating relay, 3, as described above, is made to operate slightly later than the mark relay I. r

A similar linkage from the armature of the space relay, 2, interposes a second vane, 5, between the block, l0, and the end of the bottom hole or space pin 1. A slight delay in the sequence of operation of the space and solenoid operating relays, 2 and 3, is provided for in the same manner as that between theoperation of the mark and solenoid operating relays, I and 3.

In order that the tape will be punched as standard Morse Wheatstone tape, both the relative positions of the four punch pins and the operation of the tape advance are important. As is clearly shown in Figure 2 by the arrangement of the guide holes, 38, 39, All, for the punch pins in the tape guide, ii, the center hole pins, 8, are arranged in horizontal alignment: the mark pin, 6, is disposed above and in vertical alignment with one of said center hole pins; and the space pin, 3, is disposed below and in vertical alignment with the other of said center hole pins.

After each operation of the mark or solenoid operating relay, 1 or 3, extraction of the punch pins from the tape is accomplished by means of springs, not shown. A standard wheel and pawl mechanism, ll, advances the tape one center hole. An additional mechanical linkage on the armature of the space relay, 2, is provided to disable the tape advance mechanism, II, whenever this relay, 2, is operated. This provision is made because of the fact that the distance between the center holes of the tape is equal to one keying cycle or two bauds. The end of the mark always occurs an odd number of bauds later than the start of mark, or between times of tape advance, and each start of mark occurs an even number of bauds after the previous start. of mark. Thus, by the proper positioning of the punch pins and the proper operation of the tape advance, standard Morse Wheatstone tape is punched from the incoming signal.

The operation of the device ma best be understood upon a consideration of Fig. which, there is representeda line a, three letters RCA of a code group followed by an interval representative of the spacing between code groups which in turn is followed by theletter T. Line b= rep'resents the pulses, produced by the circuit shown in Fig. 1, which operate the mark relay, I; As has been described, these pulses will be produced at the start of every mark signal. Line c represents the pulses produced from the local oscillator circuit which operates the solenoid operating relay, 3. Line 01 represents the pulses produced atthe end of the mark signal which,'ashas been described, operate the space relay, 2.

Thus, at the start of the code signal representative of the letter R, the local oscillator generates a pulse which will energize the solenoid operating relay, 3, and at the beginning of the mark signal a pulse will be produced which will enei gize the mark relay, 1. Energization of the mark farid solenoid operating relays results in the punch block performing feed holes,- 33 and 34, and a mark hole, 35. Upon the withdrawal of thepunch pins, the tape Will be advanced one space. At theend or the mark signal, which in the assumed case was a dot and would occur one baud inter val later, the space relay, 2, would be energized causing the operation of the center hole pin, "8', and the space pin, 1. This results in the perforatioh of a feed hole, 36, and a space hole, 37 During this eperation the tape advancemechanis'rii will be deenergized and the tape will not be advariced. Thereniainder of thecodesignals will be perforated in a similar sequence of operations with the dots, dashes and intervals being represented by various spacings produced by combinations of the mark and solenoid operating relays, the space and solenoid operating relays or'nly the solenoid operating relay.

If a radical change in speed takes place in the transmission, such as the insertion breaks by hand, the reperforator will faithfully reproduce the signal to the nearest center hole, since the punch of the center hole occurs at a constant rate or during long marking or spacing signalsI aeaam Having described our claimis:"-

, 1. Electrical apparatus comprising in combination a source of code signals, a local source of oscillations, means independent of said source of oscillations for producing a positive pulse upon the transition of said signals from space to mark and a negative pulse during the transition of said signals from mark to space, a first relay ac tuated by said positive pulse, a second relay actuated by said negative pulse, a third relay actuated under the control of said local source of oscillations, means for synchronizing said local source of oscillations with said signals, and output circuits controlled by said first, second and third relays. V

2. Electrical apparatus comprising incombination a source of code signals, having mark and space elementsfswitching means for; producing a positive potential during mark elements of said signals and a negativepotential during spacing elements of said signals, a local source of oscillationsfmea'ns independent of said source of oscillations for producing a positive pulse upon the transition of said signals from space to mark and a negative pulse during the transition of said signals from mark to space, a first relay actuated by said positive pulse, a second relay actuated by said negative pulse, a third relay actuated under the control of said local source of oscillations, means for synchronizing said local source of oscillations with said signals, and output circuits controlled by said first, second and third relays.

3. Electrical apparatus comprising in combination a source of code signals, having mark and space elements, a local source of oscillations switching means, independent of said source of oscillations for producing a positive potential during mark elements of said signals and a negative potential during spacing elements of said signals, a condenser connected to said switching means, one side of said condenser being arranged to be charged by said potentials whereby pulses of current will flow across said condenser, said pulses being positive at the start of a mark element and negative at the end of a mark element, a first relay actuated by said positive pulse, a second relay actuated by said negative pulses, a third relay actuated under the control of said local source of oscillations, means for synchronizing said local source of oscillations with said signals, and output circuits controlled by said first, second and third relays.

4. Electrical apparatus comprising in combination a source of code signals, having mark and space elements, a local source of oscillations switching means independent of said source of oscillations for producing a positive potential during mark elements of said signals and a negative potential during spacing elements of said signals, a condenser connected to said switching means, one side of said condenser being arranged to be charged by said potentials whereby pulses of current will flow across said condenser, said pulses being positive at the start of a mark element and negative at the end of a mark element, a mark relay, a first rectifier having its anode connected to the other side of said condenser and its cathode connected to said mark relay, a space relay, a second rectifier having its cathode connected to said other side of said condenser and its anode connected to said space relay, a third relay actuated under the control of said local source of oscillations, means for synchronizing invention, ,what we 6 said local source of oscillations with said signals, and output circuits controlled by said mark, space and third relays.

5. Electrical apparatus comprising in combination a source of code signals, having mark and space elements, a local source-of oscillations including a polar relay, the frequency of said oscil-,

lations being adjusted to a period Slightly below the dot frequency of said signals, switching means independent of said source of oscillations for producing .a positive potential during mark elements and a negative potential during spacing elements or said signals, means for producing a positive pulse-uponthe transition of said signals from mark to space, a first relay actuated by said positive pulses, a second relay actuated by said negative pulse, a third relay-actuated under-the control of said source of oscillations, means for by said first, second and third relays.

,6. Electrical apparatus comprising, in combination, a source of code signals, having mark and spaceelements, a first polar relay for producing local oscillations of adjustable frequency, the frequency of said oscillations being adjusted to a period slightly below the dot frequency of said signals, switching means independent of said first polar relay for producing a positive potential during mark elements of said signals and a negative potential during spacing elements of said signals, means for producing a positive pulse upon the transition of said signals from space to mark and a negative pulse during the transition of said signals from mark to space, a first relay actuated by said positive pulse, a second relay actuated by said negative pulse, a second polar relay connected in series with the oscillating circuit of said first polar relay whereby said first and second polar relays oscillate in synchronism, a third relay actuated under the control of said source of oscillations, means for synchronizing said local source of oscillations, means for synchronizing said local source of oscillations with said signals, and output circuits controlled by said first, second and third relays.

7. Electrical apparatus comprising, in combination, a source of code signals, having mark and space elements of said signals, a first polar relay for roducing local oscillations of adjustable frequency, the frequency of said oscillations being adjusted to a period slightly below the dot frequency of said signals, switching means independent of said first polar relay for producing a positive potential during mark elements of said signals and a negative potential during said space elements of said signals, means for producing a positive pulse upon the transition of said signals from space to mark and a negative pulse upon the transition of said signals from mark to space, a first relay actuated by said positive pulse, a second relay actuated by said negative pulse, a second polar relay connected in series with the oscillating circuit of said first polar relay whereby said first and second polar relays oscillate in synchronism, an oscillatingtongue actuated by said second polar relay, a second condenser connected between said oscillating tongue and ground, a source of operating potential, a solenoid actuating relay, said oscillating tongue being arranged to connect said second condenser alternately to said potential and to said solenoid actuating relay, means for synchronizing said local source of oscillations with said signals, and

output -circuitscontrolled "by said -"fir'str'second and solenoid actuatingwelaysjr- 8. Electrical apparatus compfis-ing-;i-n-combi-= nation; a source-of "code signals=, -having *mask and space elements, switching means-ineluding a first polar -rela-yfor --producing local oscillations of adjustable f-requeney,-the irequency'ofsaid oscilla'tions being- =adjusted to- -a period slightly below thedot 'frequencymf said signalsg a second polar relay connected inseries with the-osoillatingeincult -0f -..said isolan relay whereby said first and second I relays oseillate -synehronism; a

third lpolar relay actuatedby-said-signals for producing-a positive potential duringamark elements of .said signals and a negativepotential-duringspaeing elements of-ssaid signals a-first= condenser..connected: 420 said switching means; one side J01- :said--condenser-being --arran-ged to a be changed-my said potentials whereby---pu=lses of-- pulses beingr-positiveat'the Start Qf-a mark signal and negativaat the-end of-a man-k signal amark relay,-a first reotifier having its anode connected to "the o'therside '--of said condenser and its 8 cathodeconnected to said mark 're'lay -a space relay, a second rectifier having its cathode-com nected-to said other -side' of said condenser and its anode connected to -said-space-relay; an oscil= la'ti-ng tongue actuated by --'said -second polar relay, a second "condenser connected "between said oscillating tongue and ground,- a 'source' of operating potential, -a solenoid actuating -relay, said oscillating tongue-being arrangedto connect said second condenseralternately to said poten--' tialand to said solenoid actuating relay a phas ing-coi1 on said first polarrelay, said *coilbeing arranged-toslightly increasethe frequencyof' saiclfirst polar relay, a third condenserwon: neoted between said switching means "and "said phasing coil whereby pulses are produced 'insal'd phasing coil atthe start of a mark signal; a third rectifier-connected between said coil andground;

and output circuits controlled by said fm'ark,

Certificate of Correction Patent No. 2,492,504 December 27, 1949 JAMES A. SPENCER ET AL.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows:

Column 4, line 51, for the Word performing read perforating; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oifice.

Signed and sealed this 11th day of April, A. D. 1950.

THOMAS F. MURPHY,

Assistant Commissioner of Patents. 

